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With Instant Pot, you're cooking with pressure

Since technology has entered just about everything in our lives from cars to entertainment to education, it is no surprise that it's starting to make a bigger impact on one of the biggest things we must deal with every day: food.

When I first heard about the Instant Pot (http://instantpot.com), I was intrigued because it seems like the kind of thing that all of us with busy lives want: something to take care of cooking for us. While it's not exactly that, I've had an interesting journey with mine.

Years of watching too many infomercials has burned into the back of my mind the whole "set it and forget it!" line that Ron Popeil popularized with his ShowTime Rotisserie and BBQ product. With what I tend to do with a standard slow cooker, that idea seemed perfect to me. We all seem to need more time, so why not "set it and forget it" with everything we do? The Instant Pot advertised more things than just stews or juicy full chickens. It can do eggs and rice and cakes? Surely, some crazy magic is at work here.

My experience with the Instant Pot has been interesting. I learned that you can use it like a traditional slow cooker and just let it simmer all day. But its true strength comes from its power to be a pressure cooker, too. It cooks food up to 70 per cent faster. It's going to take multiple stages to cook most things, however, so expect to use some of your chef talents. Technology, after all, can only take you so far.

The first thing I decided to make were chicken breasts. You could just dump the breasts into the pot, turn it on and end up with cooked chicken but it would be bland. So, you will want to employ traditional cooking techniques with the Instant Pot. The good news is that you will save time and effort because you can do various tasks in a single pot.

First, I put a small amount of avocado oil in the pot and set it to "saute." It let me know when it was hot.

As the pot warmed up, I seasoned one side of the chicken breast with oregano, garlic, salt and basil. I put the seasoned side down once the unit told me the pot was hot and then I seasoned the other side of the breast as it was cooking. I left it in there for a couple of minutes, flipped it and ended up with a nice brown sear on the outside of the chicken, effectively locking in that seasoning. When I took out the chicken, there was a brown coating on the bottom of the pot. I thought: "Great, something else to scrape." But it turned out OK.

I put a little stand into the pot and added a couple of cups of water, which seemed to remove the browning from the bottom of the pot. I placed my chicken on the stand, keeping it just above the water. I closed the unit, turned it to pressure cooking for "meat" and let it go.

When done, I released the pressure and let the chicken rest for five minutes before serving.

To my surprise, the chicken was cooked perfectly and moist. The big challenge we face with a thicker chicken breast is cooking it all the way through without drying it out. Pressure cooking solved my problem.

My best advice is wear oven mitts. You wouldn't dare pull trays out of a hot oven without protection, so why would you treat this device any differently just because it sits on the counter?

My experience with pressure cooking so far has been amazing. I love reading the display to watch the progress. With the Bluetooth model that is out (which I don't have), you can use your smartphone to interact with this kitchen appliance.

While pressure cooking is nothing new, products like the Instant Pot and the technology that go with them are making them accessible to more home cooks. I am excited to try more recipes.

I can't believe I can make a cake with this thing. So, that is my next challenge. Bon appetit!

Syd Bolton is the curator of the Personal Computer Museum (http://www.pcmuseum.ca) and Canada's top video game collector. You can reach him via-email at sbolton@bfree.on.ca or on Twitter @sydbolton.